Speech Therapy

What Is Speech Dis-fluency? – An Overview

I was pressed by my senior to crack this deal with a client who is known for his arrogance and I did not like it one bit, but, it was a crucial deal and I decided to give my best shot to it. I was an emotional wreck and under the tremendous pressure to succeed, I stammered. He too suffered from speech Dis-fluency many years ago, but no one could tell. That was the connecting moment and he helped me relax and by the end of the meeting, I not only got the deal, but also made a good friend for life.

What Is Speech Dis-fluency?
It is a speech disorder and in regular life it is also called as stammering or stuttering. This disorder is characterized either by abrupt interruptions during the smooth flow of speech, unexpected pauses, prolonged or repetition of words. This condition is accompanied by other behavioral problems like continuous eyelids blinking, shivering lips, and over use of fillers in sentences like ‘umm…’ ‘ahh…’ etc.

Causes Of Stammering:
Following are a few of the factors that can disrupt the smooth flow of speech and result in the condition.

• Genetics:
Almost 60% of the cases with stammering problem have been found to have inherited the problem and genetics plays an important role in it.

• Other Speech Problems:
Speech related problems like apraxia, aphasia, late talking etc are considered as major reasons for the condition.

• Neurophysiology:
The study of the nervous system of stutterers have shown that the neurophysiologic make up of these people when compared to the neurophysiologic make up of people who do not stutter is different.

• Stress:
Stress to perform better in life, and to fulfill life and family expectations is again a deciding factor.

• Psychogenic:
Emotional trauma is the rarest and the most uncommon of the reasons but is also considered as factor.

• Poor Reasoning:
People with poor thinking and reasoning abilities too have a problem with free flow of speech.

What ever is the speech dis-fluency reason; it can be examined and effectively treated with the help of a speech and language therapist.